Episode Information

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Grand Central

Aired:

02/16/2009

In this episode:

The greatest railway terminal in the world

American Experience

Grand Central

Aired Monday, February 16, at 9:00 p.m. on CPTV

On February 1, 1913, more than 150,000 people eagerly rushed to Grand Central Terminal to gaze at New York City's newest landmark. A marvel of engineering, architecture and vision, the new Beaux Arts structure on 42nd Street housed anunderground electric train station that would revolutionize the way people traveled and transform midtown Manhattan. Only 10 years earlier, The New York Times had called Grand Central "a cruel disgrace" now, it was heralded as the greatest railway terminal in the world.

American Experience: Grand Central, from award-winning filmmaker Michael Epstein (The Battle Over Citizen Kane), tells the dramatic story of the famous landmark's construction through interviews with historians, architects and engineers, while weaving in contemporary portraits from present-day New Yorkers who describe their personal connections to Grand Central.